


Out of the Snow

by octopus_fool



Series: Yuletide Cheer [16]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Blizzards & Snowstorms, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 12:24:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16933212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octopus_fool/pseuds/octopus_fool
Summary: Dwalin isn't particularly keen on sharing a cave in the mountains with a thief, but he doesn't want the thief to freeze to death in the storm either.





	Out of the Snow

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day 10 of [Arda Advent](http://ardaprompts.tumblr.com/post/180626386876/join-me-in-creating-wintery-fanworks-about), the prompt was "blizzard".

Dwalin scowled as he stirred his stew. He had been counting on crossing the mountains in five days at most, but now an early winter storm had forced him to a halt. It would most likely be days before he could continue his journey. 

He glanced around the rough walls of the cave he had found just in time. He guessed it might be one of the old shelters for travelers that were surprised by this kind of weather, hewn into the rock by dwarves in past ages and kept stocked with firewood and durable food. Those customs had mostly fallen out of use, but while there had been no food store, there had been some dry wood stacked in a corner. At least he would have shelter and warmth from the fire while he sat idle and his food would last some time as well. The storm was an inconvenience, but no worse. 

Dwalin had just added a pinch of salt to his stew when he saw a movement at the corner of his eye. He tensed, ready to reach for his axes at any moment. There was no knowing who else might venture into the cave. 

To Dwalin’s relief, it was a dwarf who turned the corner into the rear part of the cave where Dwalin was sitting. The other dwarf spotted him and froze. They stared at each other for a moment, then the dwarf cursed, turned and ran, his red hair frozen into a shape rather less impressive than it usually was. 

Dwalin cursed as well. As little as he wanted to share the cave with the thief, he didn’t want him to freeze to death in the storm. Dwalin stood up and hurried to the entrance.

“Wait! I’m not going to arrest you! You’ll freeze out there!”

There must have been enough of a lull in the storm for the thief to hear Dwalin. The thief stopped, turned and considered. 

“As much as you deserve prison, I don’t want you dead,” Dwalin added. “If you want, we can pretend that we don’t know each other.” He considered for half a moment. “That is, as long as you don’t steal any of my things.”

Although the other dwarf’s entire stance showed how cautious he was, he grinned at the last words. “Are you worried? Do you have anything valuable with you?”

There it was, that old urge to strangle the thief.

It must have shown on his face, for the thief’s grin disappeared. “Don’t worry, I’ll be good. I really don’t fancy freezing out here in this storm.” He bowed exaggeratedly. “I’m Nori, at your service.”

Dwalin bowed just low enough to not seem entirely rude. “Dwalin, at yours.” 

He turned around and went back into the cave. Behind him, he could hear Nori following him carefully across the thick layer of snow and into the cave.

“Smells good,” Nori commented, peering at the stew.

Dwalin grunted. Nori sat down against the wall as far away from Dwalin as possible, just barely out of the wind. Dwalin returned to stirring the stew and Nori began taming his hair. 

“You can have some,” Dwalin said when the stew was nearly finished. 

“Thank you. I have some spices I could contribute and some bread and dried meat to eat together with the stew. If we have to stay here longer, I’ll be happy to do the cooking tomorrow.”

Dwalin reluctantly accepted some of the spices for the stew and they shared stew, bread and dried meat in silence. Outside, the wind howled. 

After they had eaten, Nori got out a flask. “You want some?”

Dwalin considered, then nodded. It was unlikely Nori would attempt to poison him if he was drinking the same drink. Nori poured some of it into the mug Dwalin held out.

The whiskey was strong and tasted expensive. Dwalin did not want to think about where it came from.

“It’s good,” he said.

Nori grinned in a way that confirmed Dwalin’s suspicion that it had not been paid for. But since they were confined to the same space until the storm lasted, it was best not to think about that. 

“So what brings you to this forsaken area of the mountains?” Nori asked.

“I’m carrying messages to the Broadbeam settlement by the sea,” Dwalin said. “And you?”

“Business. At least until some of the Broadbeams decided they didn’t like my idea of business. You should have a nice cup of tea with them when you get there. I think you’d get along like a house on fire.”

Dwalin scowled. “I thought we had agreed on a ceasefire.”

“True. Is this the first time you’ve been to this part of the mountains then? Can you recommend any sights in the area?”

“I saw a couple of nice icicles about half an hour from here and there were some goats with splendid horns, if that is your thing,” Dwalin said drily.

Nori laughed. “No, sorry, I’m not the type for that. I think I’ll stick with the icicles.”

“You might just have some difficulties finding them in all that white outside,” Dwalin replied.

They lapsed into a more comfortable silence after that. With nothing better to do, it didn’t take long before they set up their bed rolls and went to sleep in the two corners of the side of the room that was furthest from the entrance.

 

When Dwalin woke, his back was warm. Dwalin tensed.

“Is that you?” he mumbled.

“Hm, you’re nice and warm,” Nori murmured and then burrowed closer to him again.

Dwalin froze, wondering what to do. After a few moments, he decided there wasn’t much use in doing anything at all and went back to sleep. Nori was wonderfully warm, after all.

 

The next time that Dwalin woke, Nori was already up, had restarted the fire and was cooking porridge for breakfast. 

“Good morning,” Nori greeted when he saw that Dwalin was awake.

“Good morning,” Dwalin replied. “I’m guessing the storm isn’t over yet?”

“No, you can take a look yourself.”

Dwalin got up and followed the narrow tunnel outside. Nori had been right. The storm was still howling and the snow had reached an impressive height. Dwalin quickly took care of his full bladder and hurried back inside.

“Rather cold out there. Not travelling weather.”

Nori nodded in agreement. “Looks like we’ll be holed up in here for a little while longer.”

He handed Dwalin a bowl of porridge and they ate in silence.

“Do you play cards?” Nori asked when they had finished. “I don’t think there is much else we can do with our time.”

Dwalin nodded. “But I don’t play for money.”

Nori grinned. “You follow the old laws, huh? That’s fine with me, I just want to pass the time, not make a profit.”

He quickly got a set of cards out of his pack and started shuffling. As it turned out, neither of them would have made much of a profit, since they were evenly matched and luck favoured neither of them. 

They played until it was time to prepare lunch, neither of them speaking much. After lunch, they both needed a break from playing cards. Dwalin whittled a mountain goat from a small piece of wood which he would give Kíli. Nori used the time to mend some holes in his clothes. 

“You’re not too bad for a guard,” Nori said eventually.

“And I’ve met worse thieves than you,” Dwalin admitted. “Though you talk too much.”

Nori burst into laughter. “You really aren’t one for words, are you?”

Dwalin grinned and shook his head. “My older brother was always more talented in that, so I’ve learnt to leave talking to others.”

“Older brothers,” Nori said, rolling his eyes. “Always know what’s best for you. I have one like that too.”

“Oh, I’m not complaining,” Dwalin said. “He’s right, and I do prefer to leave the talking to others.”

“You’re lucky then. Mine isn’t right, just self-righteous.”

Dwalin chuckled and started handing out the cards. 

 

“You don’t have to sleep all the way over there,” Dwalin said when it was time to go to sleep. “It will probably be warmer if you set up your bed roll next to mine. Just as long as you don’t talk in your sleep.”

Nori didn’t need to be told twice.

 

Dwalin woke in the middle of the night, rock hard. He was just wondering whether to try to fall asleep again or to take care of it outside in the cold when Nori shifted against his back.

“I can take care of that for you, if you like.”

Dwalin froze. 

“You moaned in your sleep and I can smell that you are hard. I meant it, you know. I’d be glad to help you out with that.”

Dwalin considered for another moment or two, then nodded.

Nori’s hands were just as nimble as he had expected a thief’s hands to be. It didn’t take long at all for Dwalin to come.

Nori chuckled. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Shut up, would you?” Dwalin was much too sated for the words to have much venom. “Shall I...?”

“Well, it probably would be the gentlemanly thing to do. So if you want to consider yourself a gentleman...”

“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” Dwalin asked, already fumbling for Nori in the dark. “You are much too perky.”

“Well, if I wasn’t, there wouldn’t be any need for you to be a gentleman, would there? Hgnngh...”

It really shouldn’t have surprised Dwalin, but he ended up being rather glad that there was nobody around for several miles to hear just how loud Nori was. 

Afterwards, they curled up around each other, warm, slightly sticky but comfortable.

 

When Dwalin woke in the morning, the howling of the storm had stopped. Nori was gone, and so was the tassel of Dwalin’s hood. Dwalin huffed, but it lacked the usual anger. The breakfast waiting for him also helped.

**Author's Note:**

> There are still Arda Advent prompts for which I don't have ideas yet, so if there are any slash or femslash pairings (no incest though, sorry!) or Gen combinations you'd like to see, let me know (either in a comment or a tumblr ask, I'm ridiculoussquid) and I'll try to come up with something! If you've looked at my stories, you'll know that I mostly write for the Hobbit fandom, but I'm trying to do more LotR and Silmarillion stories too, so I'll also take suggestions for those (just no guarantees).


End file.
